HP: When Madness Beckons
by VixenPro
Summary: His insanity is her sanity. Bellatrix reminisces about her Master. LVxB vignette. Warnings for physical abuse and sexual references. Oops!


**Author's Notes:**_ This was an experiment in my writing style; I'm not sure how I feel about it. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy reading it. Please review!_

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**When Madness Beckons**

Afterwards, she lies awake fingering the bruises, the temporary brands of her thralldom.

She is His and His alone.

Blue, purple, and black, they paint her body with a murky rainbow of swollen tissue and busted cartilage. She will not be allowed to see the splendor of yellows and greens, the colors of aged contusions. He will command she repair the damaged skin and broken bones before others witness her state. They are bones He crushed during a fit of rage and lust. With Him, this is how it must be.

Each mark is different and more beautiful because each mark is sculpted by an artist.

She doesn't want to heal herself. She doesn't want the memory to fade into perfect skin, unblemished and unloved. It will be as if it had never happened, as if He had never touched her, as if the night had passed lonely and insipid.

She smiles then savors the pain that erupts across her inflamed cheekbones. Her shallow breaths send jabs through her body, reminding her of the cracked ribs she suffers.

She caresses her nape. A necklace of knots has begun to bubble beneath the skin, swelled souvenirs from where His fingers had once stolen her breath.

_His _long, impossibly strong fingers.

She licks her busted lip. Dried copper touches her tongue before it melts away. She bites down, determined to resurrect the memory. Blood seeps from the gash and fills her mouth. She can taste Him. This is His gift, blood and sweat and the prickling bliss of surrender.

She will do anything.

He wants everything.

When He beats her, He is merciless. When she bleeds, He smiles. When she cries, He laughs then pounds more violently until she is nothing but a cowering ball of heaving misery. It is a hoarse laugh, different from His smooth, killing laugh. This laugh is filled with hunger and it quivers with uncontrolled madness.

When she can't survive another strike, when she has lost all hope and realizes that this time He _will_ kill her, this time He has discovered she is nothing more than an imposter unworthy of His regard, He stops and caress her back to consciousness.

Her body reels with ecstasy as gentle hands and tender lips smother her shattered body, sheltering her from the insanity of His mind.

This is her punishment. This is her prize for winning His affection. Pleasure and pain entwined. Puffy nose and bleeding mouth, they are signs that He cares. She understands after He licks her wounds and strokes her bruises. After He whispers into her ear what a good girl she's been then kisses her so softly she aches.

He hurts her and heals her. He kills her only to revive her.

Does it matter that she kisses pain when the agony is so sweet it refashions her very spirit? It is_ His_ kiss and she is desperate for it. It isn't always with soft lips or with a passionate mouth, but sometimes with strong hands and angry fists, and it is worth every tear she sheds, every busted bone she endures because He is everything and she is nothing_. _He is the taker and giver of life. He is God and she is blessed to be in His presence.

She was dead before she met Him, but now she is reborn.

She floats somewhere between sanity and insanity, love and obsession. She is unable to regain enough prudence to be frightened.

In this world she is alive with passion she hadn't known existed.

In this world she is no longer her own. She is His and His alone.

She exists to please her Master, and in that pleasure she will die for Him.

He proves it every night.

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**End Notes:** _Even though it is somewhat OOC on Voldy's part, I wanted to toy around with a physically violent piece because I find the idea deliciously wicked and sexy. ^_^_

_In the future, I'm going to focus on the psychological abuse involving this ship. I feel it's more his MO. Voldemort doesn't have to physically hurt Bella to get off; in fact, he prefers emotional torment and submission over physical abuse because it rouses his cerebral ego - not to mention he finds **unrestrained **physical violence unsophisticated and distasteful. Although, I believe The Dark Lord enjoys it when his Bella suffers a tasty injury every now and then; gotta give credit to the irrefutable BDSM dynamics of their relationship ;)_

_Shameful Plug: If you're a fan of Tom Riddle, then swing over to my profile page and sneak a peek at Voldemort's Origins. It is a fic centering around Tom's adolescent escapades during his stay at Hogwarts._


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